


A Walk in the Snow

by Lorren



Category: The Last Hours Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Snow, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28006080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lorren/pseuds/Lorren
Summary: On Christmas Eve (the week before their wedding), James invites Cordelia for a walk in the snow. An unexpected blizzard comes out of nowhere and they need to take shelter.
Relationships: Cordelia Carstairs/James Herondale
Kudos: 23





	A Walk in the Snow

“Layla, it’s for you!” Mâmân stood in the doorway, where James was waiting with his hands in his coat pockets. A light snow was falling, dusting his woolen cap.

Although Cordelia hadn’t expected to see him until the wedding, which was a week away, her face brightened and her heart beat faster at the sight of her fiancé. She hadn’t seen a lot of him recently, outside of the formal events he had been obligated to take her to. A part of her worried that he might call off their wedding.

“I thought I’d take Cordelia for a walk in the snow,” James said as she sailed down the stairs. “If Cordelia is up for it.”

“I’d love to go!” Cordelia looked towards her mother “Mâmân, it’s okay, right?”

“Go, enjoy yourselves. But don’t be too long. I don’t like the look of those clouds outside. The snow might get worse and you might catch a cold.”

“Yes, Mâmân.” Cordelia kissed her mother on the cheek as James grabbed her coat from the rack by the doorway. He helped her shrug her jacket on.

“Don’t forget gloves and a hat either!”

“Got them!” Cordelia reached inside the pockets of her navy blue jacket and pulled out a pair of woolen gloves. Her hat was in the other pocket.

“Where are we really going?” Cordelia asked after she was dressed warmly and they had finally escaped.

“I thought it would be fun to have a snowball fight,” James said. “We’re meeting the Merry Thieves. Along the way, I thought we’d do a little mundane watching.”

“Why would we want to do that?”

“It’s their Christmas holiday,” he said. “Tonight, according to their tradition, Father Christmas comes to visit. They hang a sock by the chimney and he puts little toys and goodies in it.”

Cordelia wrinkled her nose. “That’s a little gross.”

“I think they wash them first, at least.”

“Still.” Cordelia couldn’t imagine eating candy that had been in her sock.

They didn’t bother to glamour themselves as they filed past mundanes along the street. One boy drug a tree behind him, snow clinging to his knit cap. It left a trail in the snow behind him.

“What an odd tradition,” Cordelia said, head turning as he passed.

“They put them in their houses,” James said. “Then they decorate it with homemade decorations and popcorn that they string up.”

“I missed out on so much living away from here,” Cordelia said. “We didn’t have those traditions growing up.”

He took her gloved hand. “We don’t have those traditions either, Daisy. We’re Shadowhunters.”

“Of course. But this place is so different this time of year.” The mundanes looked happier. She smiled as they passed a group of them clustered around a store window displaying stuffed animals and dolls. The children were oohing and aahing at the display.

The snow was falling harder. Cordelia had never seen it fall this hard before. It was almost as if a demonic force was behind it. “Are we almost there? I’m concerned about this snow.”

“We are, but I fear we may have to cut our snowball fight short. If it keeps snowing like this, we won’t be able to make it home.”

“It’s not that bad, is it?” Cordelia shivered, not from the cold, but from what her mâmân might say if she left with James and didn’t return until the next day. “I thought London didn’t get that many storms.”

“We don’t, usually.” James removed his hand from hers and placed it around her waist. “It used to be colder though. Long ago, the Thames would freeze over completely and they’d set up a carnival on top of it, called the Frost Fair.”

“That sounds delightful.”

“There hasn’t been one in almost a hundred years. They almost had one when my dad was a boy though.”

The snow was falling even harder; Cordelia could barely see James’s face. “I know we were supposed to meet our friends,” she said, “but I think we should turn back. There’s too much snow. It’s dangerous.”

James laughed. “My brave Daisy, demon-slayer, is afraid of a little snow?”

“We train to fight demons. We don’t train for this.”

James bumped into something.

“Ouch!” the something, with an old woman’s voice, exclaimed.

“Sorry!” James apologized. “I suppose you’re right. They’re probably seeking shelter right now.” He pulled her closer to what he thought would be the eave of a building, but it was hard to tell.

“James, I can’t even tell where we are!” Her heart beat faster. Were they in the middle of the road? Were they next to a building? She didn’t even know if they could make it home safely. If they did, surely Mâmân would make James stay the night. Not in her room, of course. He could stay with her brother, or perhaps on the couch downstairs.

“We need to find shelter. Don’t let go of me.”

“I won’t.” She read a book about a child who had been lost in a blizzard once. They were found within five feet of a building after the snow subsided, frozen. Cordelia wrapped her arm around his waist, determined to not let him go.

She hit something. A wall. “Ooh!”

“We’ll follow this wall until we find a place to shelter.”

They felt along the wall until they came to a door. James opened the door and they blew inside. The shop they were in was decorated for Christmas. Toys were displayed on circular wooden tables, along with tools for men’s gifts and sewing notions for ladies on other tables.

“’Bout ready to close shop,” the owner, an older woman with graying hair and blue eyes, said. “We’re not going to get any customers in this weather.”

“Please,” Cordelia said. “It’s dangerous outside. Couldn’t we wait out the store here?”

The shopkeeper shook her head and frowned. “I’m sorry, I wish I could help you. I gotta lock up. I live upstairs, but—I can’t take all my customers in, can I?”

Cordelia looked around the shop. They were the only people here.

“We’re right next to an inn though. They should be able to take you in.”

“Thank you,” James said. He grabbed Cordelia’s hand and pulled her out into the snow.

“We can’t stay at an inn!” Cordelia shouted. It was the only way to be heard above the wind.

“Do you have any better ideas?” James pulled her along. They traveled slowly, but eventually, he opened another door.

It was a relief to be somewhere warm and dry. The lobby they had stumbled upon looked comfortable, with overstuffed couches and polished wooden floors. Garlands and bright red and silver baubles decorated the entire floor.

A young lady with brown hair pulled up into a bun greeted them. “Can I help you?”

“Yes.” James took off his woolen cap. “Would you happen to have a room for me and my wife?”

Cordelia felt her cheeks heat with him telling the lady that they were married, even though it would be true in a week.

“We have a room that will work. It’s ten schillings.”

James reached into his pocket and handed her the money. The price seemed like highway robbery to Cordelia, although she didn’t have any experience rooming at inns.

The woman took a large book from underneath the counter. “May I take your name?”

“James. Herondale.”

She wrote in the book. “All right, Mr. and Mrs. Herondale, let me show you to your room.”

They followed her up the stairs, where she brought them to a room with a large bed, a writing desk and chair at a window, a closet, and a door that opened to a bathroom. A coal stove sat in the corner of the room next to a basket of coal.

The woman beamed. “Yes, we have bathrooms connected to our rooms. You’re lucky, you ran into one of the city’s best inns. The bathroom is connected to a neighboring room, but nobody’s checked in yet.” She glanced through the window at the howling blizzard outside. “Unless somebody else stumbles in here, it doesn’t look like you’ll end up sharing.”

“Thank you,” Cordelia said, blushing.

When the woman closed the door, leaving them alone, Cordelia hit him lightly in the side. “Why did you tell them we were married?” She whispered.

“What, did you want her to think you were a clergyman’s daughter? The only kind of people that rent hotel rooms that aren’t married are prostitutes, and I don’t think this is that kind of hotel.”

Cordelia sat on the bed and pulled off her gloves and hat. “Of course I don’t want her to think that.”

James sat down next to her. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come to see you today.”

“It’s okay. I don’t think anybody could have predicted this snowstorm.” Cordelia looked around the room. It was tastefully decorated with garlands of evergreen. “This room is decorated for Christmas!”

“It is beautiful.” James grinned at her. “I guess we get to pretend we’re mundanes for the evening.”

Cordelia gasped as she looked up. “Do you know what we’re sitting under?”

James looked up. “Mistletoe. Do you know what that means?”

“You have to kiss me. I remember reading about it in a book.”

“Daisy, my Daisy.” James cupped her face with his hands. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course. We’re not in the Whispering Room, where we had to pretend.”

Cordelia smiled and scooted closer to him. “I kind of enjoyed the Whispering Room, didn’t you?”

“Absolutely.” He kissed her quickly and chastely on the lips.

“Is that all you have for your future wife?” It wasn’t fair for James to tease her like that.

“With you in this coat? Yes.” He began to unbutton her coat. Slowly.

After he slid the jacket off his shoulders, he left her to hang it up on the coat rack by the door and closed the door to the shared bathroom. Cordelia watched as he faced her and slowly unbuttoned his jacket.

“Are you just trying to get out of this? It’s bad luck if you don’t kiss me.”

James smiled lazily. “I already did.”

“Properly. I don’t think that kiss counted.”

“Fine. I’ll kiss you, all right.” He strode across the room in three steps, sat on the bed, and wrapped his arms around her. James lay on the bed and pulled her on top of him, causing her to gasp. He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her lips to his.

His lips felt soft against her skin. He wrapped one hand around her waist and pulled her closer. James opened her mouth with his. She could feel his want. Cordelia returned his kisses with equal enthusiasm.

“James,” she whispered. “I—” She almost told him she loved him, but swallowed those words. He didn’t need to know her true heart.

“Yes?” He began unbuttoning the tiny flower buttons on the back of her dress.

“I can’t wait until our wedding.” She realized he was taking her dress off and could feel herself blushing. “We’re getting married in a week, James. Can’t this wait?”

James continued unbuttoning her dress. “You want to sleep completely clothed? We don’t have to do anything more than kiss if you don’t want, but I’m sure you’d be more comfortable wearing less.”

“Yes, but…” Her face was probably as red as her hair now. “As long as everything else stays on.”

He was on the last button running down her back. “Your undergarments will protect me from seeing anything immodest, I’m sure.”

Cordelia sighed and pulled the dress over her head, dropping it into a crumple on the floor. “The rest stays on.”

James unbuttoned his shirt. “I wouldn’t ask for anything else, Daisy.” He slid it off, and it joined the dress. “After all, we agreed to a marriage blanc.”

She rolled off him as he began to unbutton his pants. “James!”

“I’m not going to bed fully dressed either.” His pants slid to the floor, leaving him in shorts.

“If my parents didn’t think I was already ruined, they will now! Sleeping in a bed with a boy wearing only undergarments!”

James pulled back the covers. “Daisy, get under the blankets. Your mother is happy we’re getting married. As are mine. Besides, I don’t see them in the room.”

She followed him under the bedding. “But your parents—they’re so proper. They probably didn’t even kiss before they got married.”

James kissed her again, brushing her lips faintly. “Probably not. But we’re not my parents. And nobody would blame us for taking shelter in the middle of a freak blizzard.”

Cordelia reached out and ran her fingers through his thick black curls. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered.

He scooted closer to her, lining up his body with hers. “Daisy.”

She brushed her lips against his again; James responded by wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her even closer. He crushed his lips against hers. Cordelia felt warm on the inside. She wanted to be closer to him, but they were as close as two people could get while still clothed. She didn’t even want to think about being closer.

As they continued to kiss, Cordelia felt as if her brain were jumbled. She wanted more of him, but at the same time, didn’t want to go too far before their wedding.

James slid the shoulder of her undergarment to the side and kissed her neck. Cordelia pushed him away. “It’s only a week.”

“Fine.”

“You don’t want our marriage blanc to be truly—blanc—do you?”

“It doesn’t have to be.” James slid the shoulder of her undergarment back into place. “It’s whatever we want it to be. We can do as little—or as much—as we want. It’s not like people will expect you to come out of our divorce pure.”

“Good. Because if you don’t want it to be truly blanc—I don’t think it needs to be.”

James kissed her on the forehead. “Get some sleep.”

Cordelia let her eyelids droop, and she fell asleep in James’s arms.

As she awoke the next day, James was right next to her, his hand resting lightly on her hip. She looked out the window to see the blizzard had blown through and the sun was out. Cordelia smiled. This might be the only Christmas in her life that would ever feel like the mundane holiday, but it was one she would never forget.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! After reading the Chain of Iron extended excerpt, it looks like they get married in canon shortly before Christmas, but I thought this would be a fun Christmas fic so I decided to change that little detail for my story. I hope you liked it!


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